It wasnt till we got to the end that the gentleman took his house of parliament ID out from his briefcase. (one of three that he had to sort through) (Im not sure which party the gentleman represents or which constituency, or wether he's been retired to the Lords, but much bitterness  and  feeling of being badly treated was in evidence)

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

In terms of the Marxian formula, it would seem that the superstructural traditions of art have shed themselves in the effort to innovate at a pace in rhythm  with modernity's infrastructural advances in in technology.  To put it simply, are vanished in the high-velocity quest for originality.  Such a quest was inevitably and terminally fatal.

[Due to ...]

In the absence of any aesthetic criteria, money is the only yardstick.  All "tastes," like all "needs," are attended to by the market.

Which strikes me as a piece of analysis having broader application than "mere" Art.  For example, the recent housing bubble relied on the home purchaser to de-privilege "measurements" -- can't think of a better word, right now -- such as community, Public Space, and social support networks.  

No one could have predicted

Dexia Faces Core Business Breakup

BRUSSELS--Dexia SA could be forced to sell off a large piece of its core public-financing division if it can't convince the European Commission that the business is sustainable, according to people familiar with the situation.

After months of negotiations over a restructuring plan submitted at the end of February by Dexia -- the Belgian-French bank that received repeated government bailouts -- the commission remains skeptical, these people say.

If it is unable to convince the commission, Dexia will likely be forced to sell a large portion of its assets or even all of Credit Local de France, which accounts for roughly one-third of Dexia's public-finance lending, and continue as a much smaller bank focused on its business in Belgium and a few other countries. The commission -- the European Union's executive arm-- is taking a tougher stance with Dexia than with its Belgian rival KBC Group, these people say.

UK wind industry gets breath of fresh air

Centrica, the owner of British Gas, has sold a 50 per cent stake in three British wind farms to an American fund management group, in the latest sign of renewed investor interest in the industry.

Centrica said that Trust Company of the West (TCW), a Los Angeles-based fund manager, was buying the stake in its Lynn and Inner Dowsing offshore wind farms off the Lincolnshire coast, and Glens of Foudland, an onshore wind farm in Scotland.

The £84 million deal comes amid rising interest in the wind industry, which was virtually paralysed in the credit crunch last year. Last week, The Times reported that multinational companies, including Google, were examining opportunities in the industry in the UK.

(...)

Centrica has also raised £340 million in project finance from a consortium of 14 banks to fund the wind farms.

However, Andy Cox, energy partner in KPMG, said: "The challenge to finance offshore wind projects should not be underestimated. Capital remains constrained and the operating risks are still cause for concern. "The deal is definitely a step forward, but it's dwarfed by the total amount of refinancing required to construct the 25 gigawatts of UK offshore wind projects in the pipeline, around £100 billion according to the Crown Estate."

VPRO is only broadcasting the first season, but all episodes that have been broadcast so far are available (albeit low quality) on their website - for a limited period. The first two are in high definition quality. If you don't mind subtitles too much, this is a very nice free treat. And amazingly addictive.

Moving on to part 5 now...

Something of an upset, but the way better team won.

Modern conservatives engage in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy: the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.Galbraith